Other names: DeLeeuw, Adele
Birthdate: 1899-08-12
Date of death: 1988-06-12
Gender: female
Education: Hartridge School for Girls
Occupations: librarian
children's book author
autobiographer
biographer
short story writer
Organizations: Pen and Brush
Relationships: De Leeuw, Cateau (sister and frequent collaborator)
Short biography: Adèle De Leeuw, born to a Dutch-American family in Ohio, loved art and began writing as a child. She and her younger sister Cateau worked together to produce their own magazine: Adèle wrote the poetry and short stories, and Cateau provided the illustrations. As children, they travelled widely through South America, Europe, Africa, and the Far East. The sisters were fascinated by their Dutch heritage, and The Netherlands and the Dutch East Indies would later appear as backdrops in their work. Adèle moved to Plainfield, New Jersey, to pursue a career as a librarian. She also wrote and published short stories for adults and children. After her first books Berries of the Bittersweet (1924) and The Flavor of Holland (1928), she wrote and published about 75 more books for children and young adults. Several of them were collaborations with Cateau, including Mickey the Monkey (1952) and The Expandable Browns (1955). Both sisters lectured extensively at women's groups, art associations, and libraries. After Cateau's death, Adèle wrote Remembered with Love: Letters to my Sister (1982), a joint biography.
Nationality: USA
Birthplace: Hamilton, Ohio, USA
Places of residence: Ohio, USA
Plainfield, New Jersey, USA
Place of death: Plainfield, New Jersey, USA
Associated Place (for map): USA

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12 reviews

amysisson 116 reviews

Apron Strings by Adèle De Leeuw

In "Apron Strings", Marylou is more than content to let her parents continue to baby her while she floats along in her first year of college -- that is, until she meets Brian, a studious young man who clearly doesn't think much of her attitude. She takes on a number of new ventures in an effort to impress him, tentatively defying her parents in order to do so, and gradually begins to realize the value of striking out on her own.

I would have liked to rate this book higher, but two things hold show more me back: first, I found it difficult to believe that her parents babied her that much. Yes, parents can be overprotective, but Dads don't usually do their college-aged child's homework for them. It's one thing for Marylou to go along with it, but her father has no excuse for such unethical behavior.

MAJOR SPOILERS BEHIND THE CUT TAG Second, there were one-too-many trials for Marylou to get through all at once. I liked that she was put in charge of the clothing shop (although she really should have stood her ground when customers kept scamming her by returning used merchandise). At the same time, she helped her friend and co-worker through a domestic crisis (taking care of that co-worker's boyfriend's motherless siblings), which would have been enough on its own, but then the youngest little girl had to get dangerous appendicitis just then.

All that I could have forgiven, except that at the end of the book, Marylou and Brian are relaxing at a beach with Jean and Jean's on-duty lifeguard boyfriend, George, when an older lady swims out too far and gets in trouble. George races to save her, Brian races to help, Marylou has to race out to help Brian and ends up pulling back the old lady, and George drowns due to a cramp. Oh, and the old lady who swam out too far is dead too. And for whatever reason, Marylou and Brian decide that they have to break the news to George's parents.

I'm not saying this couldn't happen, but seriously -- all of this happens in about a week's time. And it reminds me of a Tom Cruise movie, when his best friend has to die so he can grow emotionally (Cocktail, Top Gun, etc.). It was completely gratuitous in my opinion. show less

Oct 5, 2017

amysisson 116 reviews

Miss Fix-It by Adele De Leeuw

Adèle deLeeuw is one of the many maltshop and career romance writers of the era I collect (1930s to 1970s, which the emphases on the 1950s and 1960s). I just recently got an inexpensive copy of this book and was excited to have something new of hers to read, but I really didn't enjoy it. It was so heavy-handed -- I mean, I'm all for characters growing, but "Miss Fix-It" put her nose into so many people's problems that it got to be pretty ridiculous. On the other hand, I did like that she show more was a bit of a tomboy who enjoyed fixing physical things, and that her father was supportive in letting her start a small repair business, even though it drove her mother crazy. But overall, I was glad when the book ended, as I was a bit tired of it by then. show less

Jun 25, 2015 (Edited)

SilverKitty 47 reviews

The patchwork quilt by Adele De Leeuw

Nancy Jo went to visit her grandmother, and came down with the measles. To speed Nancy Jo's convalescence, her grandmother tells her stories about a girl named Josie. The quilt on Nancy Jo's bed is made with patches from the dresses that Josie wore, and each story is about something that Josie did while wearing that dress. Nancy Jo picks a patch each day, which leads to a story. Nancy Jo is fascinated by Josie's adventures, which include a birthday party, pulling taffy, a visit to the smith, show more a spelling bee, a program she organizes, a squabble with a friend, and a parade. It's not until the book is almost over that Nancy Jo finds out that Josie is her own grandmother.

I believe this is the book I read as a child which (in combination with the Little House books) sparked an interest in quilting. The stories of Josie are of a similar era to the Little House books.

Well, I discovered over time, I dislike quilting. And while I still like the idea of this book, the writing doesn't appeal to me much as an adult. I can definitely see why my child-self liked it though. show less

Mar 5, 2015

moonshineandrosefire 643 reviews

Nurses Who Led The Way by Adèle De Leeuw

This is a book of true stories of nine courageous women who strove to heal the sick in times of need; when they were perhaps not taken as seriously as they would be now. These stories are primarily about women who lived from the nineteenth century to the mid twentieth century. They were nurses whose lives and accomplishments were not known to me until I read this book.

From Mary Ann Bickerdyke (1817-1901) - a hospital administrator for the Union during the Civil War, she earned the nickname show more 'Mother' Bickerdyke and worked tirelessly to improve conditions for veterans; to Lora Wood Hughes (1873-1960) - a contract nurse during the Spanish-American War, she tended to the sick during an epidemic of typhoid and wrote her autobiography, No Time For Tears in World War II.

In my opinion, this was an excellently written children's book that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. As I've said before, I had no knowledge of these courageous women's lives before I read this book, and I appreciated that these true life stories were not as well known - at least to me - as say, Florence Nightingale or Clara Barton would be. I give this book an A+! and Mareena has reacquired it to read for herself at some point. show less

Jan 30, 2014 (Edited)

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